In 1996 I went to Haiti with Brother DePaul.  It was one of the most emotional trips I have ever experienced.  I had seen slums in major cities of China, in Cairo, Egypt, and those in Mexico City. None of them would compare to the tragic realities of Cite Soleil, the slum of Port au Prince in Haiti, populated by 300,000 people. The poverty and desperate situations I witnessed tore my heart.

Their homes were one room shacks made of scrap lumber and corrugated steel. The interiors with dirt floors were furnished with a couple of old chairs, cooking space in the corner, and a worn rug on which 3 or 4 occupants slept. Piled in front of the dwellings were mounds of garbage, nearly 6 feet high. Sewage ran in open cement troughs along the dirt streets. A ditch with stagnant water and garbage ran through part of the city.  In the distance was a huge garbage dump with people climbing about looking for food and most anything.

People lined the streets attempting to sell trinkets and items of food brought down from the mountain villages. If they didn't sell, the people would sleep on the side of the street for the night and be ready the next day.  I was warned not to drink any water from stands on the street, or I would he sick for at least a week. One unfortunate person in our group drank the water and paid the consequence. I visited schools after a night's rain. The dirt floors were a sea of ankle-deep mud.  I visited one hospital, cared for by Americans doctors, in which there was one ward the size of a gym floor that had at least 80 beds, a dramatic contrast to our hospitals in America. "The tragic realities of Cite Soleil, the slum of Port au Prince... The poverty and desperate situations I witnessed tore my heart" It would take many pages to speak of all I saw in 7 days. As I left the island, there was a burning in my heart and soul that I needed to do something to make a change in as many of these peoples' lives as possible.